By Pam Marshalla
Q: I have a new referral from a dentist for a client with a “gummy smile.” Haven’t seen him yet. What do you think this means? I would assume that the term “gummy smile” means that the upper lip is retracted and the upper gums are exposed. Assuming that this is the case, the client needs to learn normal oral rest posture. Normal oral rest consists of the lips resting gently together, the teeth resting a few millimeters apart, and…
By Pam Marshalla
Q: I have tried “everything” to teach R to this one client and he has gotten nowhere. Then one day he learns a Spanish trilled /r/, and WHAM! He gets an American R right away. Can you explain this? Van Riper wrote about this as one method for teaching the retroflex R: “Have the child imitate you as you trill the tongue-tip. Then use this trill to precede the vowel E” (Van Riper, Speech Correction, 1947, p. 142). Think of…
By Pam Marshalla
Q: How do you get a tongue-tip to curl up and back toward the velum for the retroflex R? I have been using cream cheese, but it does not stick to the palate well, and I have been pushing the tongue back, but the child just doesn’t get what I want him to do. First, using food on the palate is an old-time popular method to stimulate tongue movement, but I never use food. You have to analyze the stimulus. …
By Pam Marshalla
Q: Are there any exercises one can give to extend the tongue frenum instead of having the client get a frenectomy? Are these exercises are proven scientifically? From long ago, therapists have said that “tongue exercises” could stretch the frenum, but I have never seen anyone spell out what those exercises would be, nor have I seen any data that would prove that any certain exercises do help. My own personal experience is this: Clients tend to move their tongues…
By Pam Marshalla
Q: I just was assigned a three-year-old child who is blind and who has no expressive language. I have never worked with a child like this before. I am looking for general guidance. I am not an expert on working with blind children, but I have some experience and these are my thoughts–– Blindness effects language development in certain ways mostly by limiting the child’s experiences and related vocabulary and concepts. How does he develop concepts of size and space…
By Pam Marshalla
Q: I have a four-year-old male client whose only consonant is D. He says “telephone” as “Deh-duh-doh.” How do I teach him other phonemes? Therapists use a wide variety of methods to stimulate new phonemes. I have summarized them in an article published by the Oral Motor Institute (Marshalla, 2008). I also have put this information into my newest seminar, titled “21st Century Articulation Therapy.” It also will appear in my next book to be called “The Marshalla Guide to…
By Pam Marshalla
Q: I am so happy to have found your website and blog. I shared the post you made about not stressing out over kids putting extra schwas at the ends of syllables (epenthesis) with all my coworkers at our speech clinic and they loved that advice. I can’t tell you how many goals have been written in this clinic to avoid that process and I feel relieved that I can spend less time worrying about it and more time worrying…
By Pam Marshalla
Q: My friend’s daughter has a lateral lisp and has been denied services in her school because “it does not affect her ability to learn the curriculum.” I was alarmed and upset by this. Is it possible that certain school districts do not treat this? What is your stance on this? Unfortunately there now are many school districts that hold this policy. Frankly, it makes me sick. If I were a parent I would be screaming about this. Sometimes a…
By Pam Marshalla
Q: I have a two-year-old client who only says “Mmmm” and “Ahhh.” He won’t do anything for me. How can I get him to talk? First, I would like to refer you to my book called Becoming Verbal with Childhood Apraxia. I am not trying to sell you a book, but I wrote it precisely for this type of case. It will help you understand how to help little kids become more vocal, verbal, interactive, communicative, and imitative. It discusses…
By Pam Marshalla
Q: My client can do S and Sh correctly, but I cannot get him to do Ch. Ideas? Van Riper used a term that applies here. He said the “association method” was the process of using a phoneme the client already can produce to teach him to say a phoneme he cannot produce. In this case, the easiest way to do this is to use Sh to teach Ch. Think about how we transcribe Ch. It is /t∫/. This means…
